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ST. LOUIS — Federal authorities last month asked the city’s development arm to release tax incentive records related to a 152-unit apartment building on Pershing Avenue developed by Lux Living.

The Aug. 2 subpoena sent to the St. Louis Development Corp. from the U.S. Attorney’s Office was released Monday in response to an open records request from the Post-Dispatch, which last week reported the existence of the subpoena. A former employee has said the FBI interviewed him about his time at the company, and an attorney involved in lawsuits against the company says he has heard a federal investigation is underway.

Brothers Victor Alston and Sid Chakraverty run Lux Living, which has developed several large apartment complexes with more than 1,000 units in recent years. Another Alston firm, STL CityWide, owns hundreds more apartments across the region.

But controversy has followed the brothers. Tenants have complained of deferred maintenance and unresponsive management in their properties, the brothers used legal maneuvers to stymie a competing development and last year the landlords settled a class-action lawsuit over a failure to refund security deposits.

Though Lux and its affiliated companies have developed several apartment buildings in recent years, the subpoena seeks only records tied to the Chelsea apartment complex at 5539 Pershing Avenue. Specifically, the subpoena asks for records related to sales and use tax exemptions granted to the property.

The Chelsea was first pitched in late 2018 and received an 85% property tax abatement from the city. An SLDC board approved entering into a sales tax exemption in December 2018. The project was completed around 2020.

The subpoena was requested by Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith, who has prosecuted several high-profile public corruption cases in recent years, including that of former St. Louis Board of Alderman President Lewis Reed and former St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger.

Goldsmith has also investigated incentive fraud at SLDC, recently sending a construction executive to prison for falsifying records related to a city minority hiring program tied to development incentives. And in 2020, Goldsmith brought a case against a problem property landlord, Michael Fein, who had purchased and mismanaged several large apartment complexes in the area.

A U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman has declined to confirm or deny the existence of an investigation, per U.S. Justice Department policy.

Ira Berkowitz, the brothers’ attorney, on Monday played down the significance.

“It’s a subpoena for records, it doesn’t mean anything,� Berkowitz said.

In August, the brothers put their downtown properties on the market. On Friday, the Missouri Real Estate Commission sued STL CityWide for operating without a real estate license.